Miniconda is a Python distribution, package manager, and virtual environment solution. While QIIME 1 is Python 2 software, we recommend installing
Miniconda with Python 3 (miniconda3), as many bioinformatics packages
are now transitioning to Python 3. You can still install Python 2
software with miniconda3 by passing the python=2.7 flag when you create
a new environment; otherwise the default Python version will be Python
3.

Begin by downloading Miniconda
and following the associated installation instructions.

You should next work through the tutorials on the Miniconda install page
linked above. We recommend setting up a QIIME 1.9.1 environment for your
Miniconda installation, so pay particular attention to the virtual
environment management in this tutorial. This will eventually allow you
to install QIIME 2 alongside QIIME 1 on your system. It will also
facilitate easy installation of the many other bioinformatics tools
supported by bioconda.

You now have the QIIME 1 base installation and access to much of QIIME’s
functionality. However, if you want to use additional dependencies, your
installation of QIIME will need to have access to the executable
files for each program you’d like to use. If these executables are accessible through your PATH environment, they will be accessible in your qiime1 conda environment and accessible to QIIME. Some of QIIME’s external dependencies may have special installation instructions. These can be found here.